Forbidden Laughter | Mapping Melbourne Community Day

A collaborative work between Japanese/Australian performance artist Yumi Umiumare and Thai/Australian installation artist Pimpisa Tinpalit, Forbidden Laughter is created as a mobile Butoh performance installation, an extension of their previous work in ButohOUT!2019. Several pop-up performances with a surreal sense of humour will occur onsite with performers dancing and interacting as a moving installation.

The original inspiration of the work Forbidden Laughter came from the Japanese verb for ‘laughter’: wareru meaning to break, crack or split and multiple images, body movements and narratives were already created through the focal point of ‘laughing’. These surreal narratives have been woven between the short works, through a mixture of the sacred and the carnal, the earthly and the divine, the contemporary and the mythical.

Butoh was originally called Ankoku Butoh, meaning dance of darkness, but Yumi is renowned for fusing a sense of humour into the surreal and dark dance movements, and this performance is combined with the intricate and exciting visual work of Pimpisa.

Wheelchair accessible venue. Forbidden Laughter is presented as part of Mapping Melbourne 2019.

Featured image: Yumi Umiumare. Photo by Vikk Shayen.